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Digital Choice Boards for Science Teachers

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Digital Choice Boards for Science Teachers

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This resource provides ideas for ways to incorporate choice boards in the classroom. As technology has advanced, so has the classroom implementation of assignments. This resources focuses on digital choice boards but it can be made into physical, paper copies just as easy.

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Have you ever tried out choice boards with your students? I love them because they give students some voice and choice in their learning. Choice boards provide a variety of ways for students to demonstrate they have mastered a concept. Your students that love to write can choose to answer writing prompts, your students that are artistic may choose to create an animated cartoon, and your talkative students may choose to use an online voice recorder to explain what they learned. The possibilities are endless.

If you make your own, here are some options you could include:

Virtual labs

Website review games

YouTube video clips

Listen to a podcast episode

Answer a writing prompt

Fill out a crossword puzzle or concept map

Create a cartoon

Answer a question in an online voice recorder (such as vocaroo)

Take a photograph that represents a science concept

How to grade choice boards:
It is up to you on how many tasks you want students to complete on the choice board and how you will assess them. Grading ideas could include:

Grade for completion

Create a rubric

For virtual labs or online games, you can have students screenshot their high score

Type up questions that go along with videos or podcast episodes

Insert their answers into a Google form

Here is a preview of a choice board I created for cell organelles to give you an idea of how they work:

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Digital Choice Boards for Science - Science Lessons That Rock

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Have you ever tried out choice boards with your students? I love them because they give students some voice and choice in their learning. Choice boards provide a variety of ways for students to demonstrate they have mastered a concept. Your students that love to write can choose to answer writing prompts, your students that ...

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This resource shares a new way to have students engage in note-taking by using choice boards. This provides the student with autonomy on how they prefer to take and retain information during the note-taking portion of the science classroom. Since every student has their own preferences, providing a choice in their notes that they must study is brilliant.

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Letting high school students choose how they take notes in math and science classes can get them to engage more deeply with the content.

Maskot Images / Shutterstock

Giving direct instruction to my math and science classes often felt like a game of whack-a-mole. No matter what style of note-taking I chose to give them-even with employing best practices like chunking information and formative assessment-some of my students struggled to connect with the concepts.

A while ago I became aware of the many different ways my students preferred to be introduced to new information. Some thrived with videos, while others struggled to make sense of new concepts unless I lectured. When I lectured, some students struggled to internalize the information even when they actively participated. Some preferred to read slides and articles and learn what they needed from text.

Since I use choice boards regularly as a way for students to demonstrate their understanding, this year I decided to see what would happen if I applied choice boards to note-taking. Would my students learn new information even if I was not the one giving the information?

Benefits of Choice Boards for Notes

The most immediate effect of using choice boards for notes was the reduction in classroom disruptions. I no longer have to stop instruction to redirect students, wake them up, or ask why they aren't writing anything down. Students don't have to wait for me to finish talking to ask a clarifying question. They can, if they choose, hold a continuing dialogue with each other as they process the new information. (They're expected to keep their voices low, and the lab, where they work, has a wide enough area so they can move away from others, and others can move away from them.)

My students are more engaged with the material. They self-assess their understanding and stop to ask questions, something that many of them wouldn't do during a traditional lecture. Overall, students take more steps on their own to make sure they're understanding the new concepts.

I also observed growth in student achievement. My students are performing as well as or better than the previous year using the choice boards. Because of that, this is now my preferred method of giving notes.

Building the Choice Boards

At the beginning of the year, I gave my students a survey asking about their learning preferences and what types of activities reached them the best. I used this data, and prior experience, to build the activities on the choice board. Overall, my students preferred either a direct lecture from me, a video, or reading slides/text. I sometimes include inquiry-based activities, such as Math Medic or PhET lab simulations, for students who like to learn by noticing trends.

I rely on edtech tools, like Quizizz and Edpuzzle, to build checks for understanding into each choice so that students have timely feedback on their level of understanding. For my math classes, I make use of Desmos Classroom activities to guide students through concepts of graphical relationships. For my science classes, the chemistry section of Positive Physics helps with scaffolding questions and concepts.

Using edtech tools also allows me to build accommodations for my students who need them. I can deploy subtitles, allow reattempts of the work, and make use of read-aloud features. This ensures that all of my students are able to make any choice, regardless of disability or language acquisition.

At the bottom of my choice board I include an exit ticket activity that all students take, so that I can see student progress and compare the effectiveness of each note-taking method.

During Class

Save any questions for me until I am done with the direct teach.

You may work together, but you must keep your volume down so that those listening to a video or to my direct teach can hear.

You must work the full time. If you do not achieve at least an 80 percent on the note-taking activity, you must reattempt it.

If you are disruptive, you are choosing to finish the note-taking activity with me up front.

When I introduce the choice boards to my students, I remind them to make the choice based on how they learn best, not what their friend is doing. Then, I set the following expectations:

I direct students to different areas of the room depending on their choice of activity to minimize noise interference, which also allows them to work together with others who chose the same activity. They're free to switch between different methods during the period if they realize that their choice isn't working for them, or to join me while I'm working examples on the board before returning to their original choice.

Once I'm finished with the direct teach, I circulate around the room to check progress and answer any questions the students couldn't resolve on their own. If it's a common question, I'll answer it for the whole class. I remind students to complete the exit ticket in the last few minutes of class.

Following Up

After class, I look at exit ticket data to find the weak areas in student understanding. I take steps to reteach them, either through a brief whole group instruction, through an inquiry activity, or by selecting activities for another choice board. This makes the next day's activities more cohesive and meaningful to my students, who engage more, knowing that I'm responding to their needs. I also use the data to determine if there were weak spots in the video or slide deck and take steps to revise them for the following year.

The choice board remains posted in Google Classroom for students to refer back to, and I post a video of my direct teach and/or notes. This assists students who were absent that day and serves as a review resource on a later assessment.

I recommend trying this with a less difficult lesson first and keeping your choice board simple: three choices and an exit ticket. As your students get accustomed to doing this, you can branch into more difficult lessons or add more choices.

Giving students choice in their note-taking will make the practice more meaningful to them, ultimately enriching their learning experience so they can achieve more.

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Setting Up Choice Boards in Math and Science

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Letting high school students choose how they take notes in math and science classes can get them to engage more deeply with the content.

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This is a teacher tool-kit to help maximize equity in the classroom and to improve student autonomy. Students are often taught course material in one specific way, without students' voices being heard. This lack of autonomy results in student outbursts during class, low retention rates, and general distaste for learning. This padlet shares resources for teachers by providing articles, websites, and videos introducing different methods and ways to teach students. These resources are aimed to provide students with more autonomy and to provide opportunities to learn at their own paces. Since students are more likely to complete work and engage in material that they have a choice to, I feel that these resources will be good in one tool-kit. My goal with the completion of this tool-kit is provide teachers resources and tools to motivate and provide students with an equitable opportunity to take control of their own learning!

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Diffit is a website that allows a teacher to tailor lesson plans and activities for students. This is considered a differentiation tool because it allows for teachers to modify and alter the lesson plan to different reading levels and allows for many different formats for students to complete. This differentiation tool has been extremely helpful to provide students with alternative ways to learn their material.

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Use existing curriculum, or generate standards-aligned content with real, cited sources.

Choose a grade level and language, and watch Diffit create complete, differentiated resources. ✅

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Use existing curriculum, or generate standards-aligned content with real, cited sources. Choose a grade level and language, and watch Diffit create complete, differentiated resources. ✅

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Why, How, and Examples - Differentiated Instruction

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Why, How, and Examples - Differentiated Instruction

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This youtube video explains the importance for differentiated instruction in the classroom due to engagement and strengths/weaknesses. This video provides many examples of situations where differentiated instruction can be utilized and how it can be utilized!

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Differentiated Instruction: Why, How, and Examples

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I found this youtube video essential because it provided not only an explanation of what UDL is but also how too implement UDL in the classroom. This included information on how to alter assessments, reach out to your district for aid in providing students the opportunities for autonomy, and how important collaboration with educators is.

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These are 6 ways or strategies to allow for students to have more autonomy in the classroom. This autonomy helps students have access to all opportunities in the classroom and to have a say in their learning to focus on a more student-centered classroom.

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These techniques foster independence and show students how to help themselves-and their peers-understand and complete tasks.

Flexible classrooms rely on students exercising a certain degree of independence. If teachers want to maximize their time working with individuals and small groups, for example, they need the rest of the class to be self-sufficient.

Unfortunately, as teachers know too well, children of all ages often default to dependence on adult help. Instead of ridding the classroom of tasks that require autonomy, teachers can equip students with the skills and know-how to be their own best assistants.

Six Simple Strategies for Promoting Student Autonomy

1-2-3 Then Me: This approach asks students to rely first on their own and their peers' understanding of a task. Give students one minute to go over the directions silently, two minutes to discuss the directions with each other, and three minutes to plan their approach to the task. Only then can they ask for assistance. Or give a one-minute explanation of the directions to the whole class in place of or prior to students reading the directions silently or in pairs.

Recorded Directions and Responses: These are simple but powerful tools, especially for students whose reading and writing skills are still developing. With the voice memo function on a device, record yourself giving directions. (You can use an accent or character voice, for fun.) Students play back the directions when needed, rewinding to listen to trouble spots or simply to hear your explanation again. Place the device at the station or center where students complete their tasks, or post the file on a class website or app like Seesaw. Alternatively, students can record themselves or a peer reading or explaining directions aloud for later playback.

Digital recordings build independence in task completion if students can also record their response to a task or their skill performance. This frees the student from having to wait for an audience and allows the teacher to work with individuals or small groups. With younger children, responses can be played back directly from the devices. Older students can upload their responses to a dedicated site or folder.

Resource Files: Another self-help mechanism when the teacher isn't available. These files include troubleshooting tips for routines and tools that students use on a regular basis. For instance, what to do when the iPad screen freezes or how to push through writer's block. Resource files can include extra graphic organizers, peer editing protocols, and rubrics. The files can be physical (i.e., folders with paper materials inside) and placed in a prominent area of the room, or digital files in a clearly marked, easy-to-access spot on a device.

Hint Cards: Similar to resource files, but lesson-specific. The teacher in this video, for example, has anticipated likely trouble spots with the mathematics tasks students are working on. Her hint cards ask probing questions that she would pose to students if they were stuck, and students use the cards before consulting her. Over time, students internalize both the questions and the process for getting unstuck.

Green cup on top: I am/we are fine-no teacher help needed.

Yellow cup on top: I/we need teacher help but can continue working while waiting for it.

Red cup on top: I/we need teacher help immediately and have stopped working.

Colored Cups: This self-monitoring and signaling strategy builds students' skills in deciding if and when they need teacher help. Each group (or individual) receives a stack of three colored cups (ideally, green, yellow, and red to mimic traffic lights). The teacher instructs the student to display the cup that matches how they're working:

The teacher monitors the cups while circulating, and works with groups according to urgency. At first, teachers may find that students regard every stumbling block as a red-cup situation. This is another opportunity to encourage independence: Point out when the cup should be yellow and direct the student or group to what they can work on while waiting for you. Leave for a few minutes and return to assist if the top cup is yellow or red.

Question Chips: These help students decide whether their questions about tasks are "must ask the teacher" or "could find out myself." Each student-or group-receives a limited number of question chips (e.g., pennies, paper squares, or game chips) for the class period or longer. These represent the number of times students can call on the teacher for help. If students have only a few chips, they're less likely to raise their hands and summon the teacher for easy-to-answer questions.

The spirit of question chips is not to squelch inquiry or discourage students from seeking clarity-the idea to for them to ask themselves, "Is this something that I already know, will find out soon, or can ask a peer-or do I need to ask this now so that I understand?" As with the colored cups, teachers can be instructive as everyone learns how to use the chips. For example, if a student poses a procedural question, say "Do you really want to use a chip on that?" and make a general suggestion about when, where, or how to find the answer.

To be effective, these strategies must be taught and modeled. Introduce them as needed, and use those that suit your subject, students, and style. Students won't become independent overnight, but in time and with practice, they can all learn how to help themselves.

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6 Strategies for Promoting Student Autonomy

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These techniques foster independence and show students how to help themselves-and their peers-understand and complete tasks.

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This resource is very helpful in guiding and deciding which teaching method may best fit your classroom or based on the activity your classroom is trying to learn about. There are many different student-centered methods for teaching provided in this resource.

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Follow FizzicsEd Articles:

There are a variety of science teaching methods you can draw upon when helping students understand their world.
Whilst there are several approaches to try, the most important thing to keep in mind is that our role as science educators is to help students understand how the scientific method actually works and why science impacts upon their own lives.

Things to keep in mind when considering a science teaching method

Group dynamics.
Who works well with who? Who can handle cooperative group situations and who needs time to work by themselves?

Student ability.
This is not simply about science understanding, this also about their ability to undertake the work with the materials at hand.

Timeframe.
Is the teaching method likely to be successful given how long it takes to get students on task and the anticipated outcomes?

Context.
How does the scientific concept relate to their lives?

Content.
Which teaching method will help the students best understand the lesson material?

Methods for teaching science

All science teaching methods come down to either teacher-centred or student-centred instruction. Both types of instruction have their place, however in practice have very different dynamics in the classroom.

Lecture (teacher-centred)

In this approach, it is the teacher that is the focus. Students either passively take notes or ask questions through the teacher's presentation. Handy for large groups of students or for when you need to get through a large body of information. The key to this lesson style is to keep it lively by inserting graphics, video snippets, animations, science demonstrations, audio grabs or guest appearances via video conference. To help increase the engagement during a lecture, try incorporating student polling using Poll Everywhere, Plickers, Quizizz or Kahoot. The advantage of getting active student feedback is that this formative assessmen t can help shape your lecture and future lessons to fit the student's needs.

Hands-on activities (student-centred)

Break out the experiment materials! Whether the students work in small groups or by themselves, the lesson has a clear question that students need to find an answer to with the teacher acting as a facilitator. There are a few variations here;

Students follow an experimental procedure with a clear set of instructions and scaffold for their scientific report.

Students explore the materials themselves to design and test their own fair experiment, keeping variable testing in mind. This version is better for students who already have a clear understanding of the scientific method and are now ready for independent thinking

Station-based rotations. Here the students rotate around the classroom to explore a variety of hands-on materials that all cover an aspect of your lesson topic. The trick here is to ensure that there is enough time for the students to complete each activity and that there are no bottlenecks in terms of access to resources or one particular activity taking too long to complete. A fun way to link all the stations together to pull together a scenario such as a forensics investigation; some students will enjoy the role-play!

You can find over 150 free science experiments here

Project Based learning (student-centred)

This teaching method draws on the hands-on nature of the activities above and extends this to involve students in a deep dive into a given topic. Time is the key here, as students will be engaged over an extended period of time in researching their topic, designing their experiment or model, writing a scientific report or creating a poster and presenting their findings in a short talk. When planning this in your scope and sequence, consider access to resources both within and beyond your school and how the students might be able to involve the community in their research or as an audience for the final presentation at a school science fair. Often part of inquiry-based instruction, the outputs of Project Based Learning (PBL) can include several of the following as a major work;

The outcome doesn't necessarily have to be informal too; try emulating the entrepreneurial show Shark Tank and have students compete for a prize in a pitchfest!

Peer-led team learning (student-centred)

Peer-led team learning (PLTL) is about empowering the students to teach other students. Often employed in undergraduate studies, this approach also works in schools where it is most effective when connecting older students with younger students. Alternatively, PLTL can also be used when pairing students with a high subject aptitude with students needing help. Guidance is important here as you need to ensure that what is being covered is correct and safely performed. With supervision, this approach can be effective for students to learn leadership skills and can create a positive atmosphere around scholarship.

Flipped learning (student-centred)

Flipped learning has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. The idea is that the instructional content is given to the students outside of normal school time, with the intention that students can then come to school with deeper questions for teacher clarification. you can present this content via a series of videos, articles and books to read, podcasts to listen to, investigating a problem and so on. There is much debate on how to best implement this in the classroom; in essence, you need to consider how your students will respond to flipped learning and how you can motivate them to trial it. A handy app to use with this is Flipgrid, whereby you can record a very short video question to your class and the students then respond to you with their answers via video as well.

Differentiation (student-centred)

Differentiation is all about ensuring that students of all levels can be involved in your lesson. You may want to create worksheets with different tasks or levels of difficulty, perhaps have a variety of activities for students to choose from or create a variety of job roles for students when running PBL. Of course, with differentiation comes a time requirement to prepare the lesson, however it can help with students being more on task as they can choose tasks that they can achieve. You can differentiate tasks as both extension activities as well as design activities for students who need more support.

It's up to you!

Without a doubt, the list of teaching methods above is just a brief overview of what you can try in your classroom. In reality, there are many ways to teach science and you might find that you'll blend methods together and change on the fly depending on how your students are responding. No matter what, it's not just about the technology but more about the pedagogy. Have a chat with your fellow teachers or reach out to others via Twitter on the myriad of professional learning networks for advice. As always if you've got any thoughts on the above or advice, pop it in the comments below or get in touch!

Further enrichment ideas

Create a science festival at your school to showcase these different teaching methods. You can also enrich this day with a science show, workshop or STEM activity!

Happy teaching,
Ben Newsome

Read more

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There are a variety of science teaching methods you can draw upon when helping students understand their world.
Whilst there are several approaches to try, the most important thing to keep in mind is that our role as science educators is to help students understand how the scientific method actually works and why science impacts upon their own lives.

Things to keep in mind when considering a science teaching method

Group dynamics.
Who works well with who? Who can handle cooperative group situations and who needs time to work by themselves?

Student ability.
This is not simply about science understanding, this also about their ability to undertake the work with the materials at hand.

Timeframe.
Is the teaching method likely to be successful given how long it takes to get students on task and the anticipated outcomes?

Context.
How does the scientific concept relate to their lives?

Content.
Which teaching method will help the students best understand the lesson material?

Methods for teaching science

All science teaching methods come down to either teacher-centred or student-centred instruction. Both types of instruction have their place, however in practice have very different dynamics in the classroom.

Lecture (teacher-centred)

In this approach, it is the teacher that is the focus. Students either passively take notes or ask questions through the teacher's presentation. Handy for large groups of students or for when you need to get through a large body of information. The key to this lesson style is to keep it lively by inserting graphics, video snippets, animations, science demonstrations, audio grabs or guest appearances via video conference. To help increase the engagement during a lecture, try incorporating student polling using Poll Everywhere, Plickers, Quizizz or Kahoot. The advantage of getting active student feedback is that this formative assessmen t can help shape your lecture and future lessons to fit the student's needs.

Hands-on activities (student-centred)

Break out the experiment materials! Whether the students work in small groups or by themselves, the lesson has a clear question that students need to find an answer to with the teacher acting as a facilitator. There are a few variations here;

Students follow an experimental procedure with a clear set of instructions and scaffold for their scientific report.

Students explore the materials themselves to design and test their own fair experiment, keeping variable testing in mind. This version is better for students who already have a clear understanding of the scientific method and are now ready for independent thinking

Station-based rotations. Here the students rotate around the classroom to explore a variety of hands-on materials that all cover an aspect of your lesson topic. The trick here is to ensure that there is enough time for the students to complete each activity and that there are no bottlenecks in terms of access to resources or one particular activity taking too long to complete. A fun way to link all the stations together to pull together a scenario such as a forensics investigation; some students will enjoy the role-play!

You can find over 150 free science experiments here

Project Based learning (student-centred)

This teaching method draws on the hands-on nature of the activities above and extends this to involve students in a deep dive into a given topic. Time is the key here, as students will be engaged over an extended period of time in researching their topic, designing their experiment or model, writing a scientific report or creating a poster and presenting their findings in a short talk. When planning this in your scope and sequence, consider access to resources both within and beyond your school and how the students might be able to involve the community in their research or as an audience for the final presentation at a school science fair. Often part of inquiry-based instruction, the outputs of Project Based Learning (PBL) can include several of the following as a major work;

The outcome doesn't necessarily have to be informal too; try emulating the entrepreneurial show Shark Tank and have students compete for a prize in a pitchfest!

Peer-led team learning (student-centred)

Peer-led team learning (PLTL) is about empowering the students to teach other students. Often employed in undergraduate studies, this approach also works in schools where it is most effective when connecting older students with younger students. Alternatively, PLTL can also be used when pairing students with a high subject aptitude with students needing help. Guidance is important here as you need to ensure that what is being covered is correct and safely performed. With supervision, this approach can be effective for students to learn leadership skills and can create a positive atmosphere around scholarship.

Flipped learning (student-centred)

Flipped learning has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. The idea is that the instructional content is given to the students outside of normal school time, with the intention that students can then come to school with deeper questions for teacher clarification. you can present this content via a series of videos, articles and books to read, podcasts to listen to, investigating a problem and so on. There is much debate on how to best implement this in the classroom; in essence, you need to consider how your students will respond to flipped learning and how you can motivate them to trial it. A handy app to use with this is Flipgrid, whereby you can record a very short video question to your class and the students then respond to you with their answers via video as well.

Differentiation (student-centred)

Differentiation is all about ensuring that students of all levels can be involved in your lesson. You may want to create worksheets with different tasks or levels of difficulty, perhaps have a variety of activities for students to choose from or create a variety of job roles for students when running PBL. Of course, with differentiation comes a time requirement to prepare the lesson, however it can help with students being more on task as they can choose tasks that they can achieve. You can differentiate tasks as both extension activities as well as design activities for students who need more support.

It's up to you!

Without a doubt, the list of teaching methods above is just a brief overview of what you can try in your classroom. In reality, there are many ways to teach science and you might find that you'll blend methods together and change on the fly depending on how your students are responding. No matter what, it's not just about the technology but more about the pedagogy. Have a chat with your fellow teachers or reach out to others via Twitter on the myriad of professional learning networks for advice. As always if you've got any thoughts on the above or advice, pop it in the comments below or get in touch!

Further enrichment ideas

Create a science festival at your school to showcase these different teaching methods. You can also enrich this day with a science show, workshop or STEM activity!

Happy teaching,
Ben Newsome

Read more

Fizzics Education curated a thoughtful and hands-on experience for the children, incorporating practical, skill-based learning activities and followed by a science presentation at the end of the event involving liquid nitrogen. This was delivered safely and effectively, capturing both the children and the parents for the duration of the presentation.
-Macquarie Bank - Family Fun Day

Fizzics Education ran a show today at our school and it was wonderful. He was a great facilitator and the show was age appropriate and well done.
-Mount Zion Early learning centre - Little Science Big Fun

I just wanted to pass on how much the staff and students really enjoyed it and how perfect it was to launch our science week activities. The students were enthralled, educated and entertained - a perfect trifecta!
-Caulfield Grammar School - Big Science Big Fun

Thanks so much for presenting at our school on Monday. Our students enjoyed the show.
-Greenvale Primary School - Big Science Big Fun

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There are a variety of science teaching methods you can draw upon when helping students understand their world. We look at common methods we've seen teachers using in classrooms to help students understand how the scientific method actually works and why science impacts upon their own lives.

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This webpage simply lists 5 strategies that can be used to make a secondary classroom more equitable. This resource helps with forming lesson plans that are focused on equity based around the student and their needs in the classroom.

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Take a moment and look at ALL the things around you. Pause. Now take a moment and look at EACH thing around you. What's the difference? For me, there are three distinct differences. First, it took more time to look at each object around me. Second, I noticedthe details I would have normally ignored or not noticed at all. Third, I was more intentional inunderstanding the importance of what was around me. Let's apply this to what we do as educators. Because, whether you are a classroom teacher, administrator, or other staff member, we all must take the time to notice the details and importance of the students we serve. This requires us to take an EACH approach rather than "all" to achieve equitable educational.

When we plan for all of our students and not EACH of our students, someone is bound to be forgotten. Most educators would agree that equity should be something that we strive for when educating students, but may struggle with how exactly to execute it. How do you turn a theory or educational belief into an actuality? Break down the components of the theory and develop an individual action plan for each. This is exactly what needs to be done for teachers to create lesson plans that will lead to equitable education and increased academic success.

When thinking about lesson plans, we can categorize our plans as input (content instruction) and output (evidence of student comprehension). Let's go over five strategies for creating an equitable lesson plan that can meet the needs of EACH student you serve.

Input: Content Instruction
1. High Expectations Paired with Resources
Oftentimes, educators may feel that by lowering expectations and rigor they are helping students that require more support. The opposite is actually more imperative, especially in the case of required standardized exams. Educators that have an academic impact on students need to keep high expectations. The caveat here is that the high expectations need to be paired with more resources in order to be equitable, or it just perpetuates more inequity.

Resources that support high expectations:

1. Curated or created videos

2. Scaffolding to strengthen foundational content

3. Small or individual study groups

4. Provide multiple opportunities and avenues for evidence of comprehension

5. Compassion, or what I like to call "tough love"

2. Accessibility for Disability and Flexibility
Each year, you may have students that require accessibility accommodations or modifications due to a disability. The adjustments needed are often made after you received your roster and SPED or 504 documentation. However, what if you created lessons with accessibility features without knowing who was on your roster? What if those features had the potential to help each of your students? Accessibility is a key component of an equitable lesson plan. It allows students, with or without a disability, to control how they access and digest the information presented.

Types of accessibility features that provide learner flexibility:

1. Closed captioning on videos

2. Provide instruction and information in digestible chunks

3. Text-to-speech screen reader

4. Digital notes and text

3. Student Experiential Relevance
What is student experiential relevance? It is the opportunity for students to make personal connections to the content based on their own experiences. Do your lesson plans prompt students to say "I see me," "I have felt that," or "I have been through that?" According to John Hattie, there are three main ways to trigger relevance to a student: personal association, personal usefulness, and personal identification. As a former chemistry teacher, I do want to be realistic here; I know that not every lesson lends itself to allow for you to consider student experience. This takes the focus off of cultural, racial, and socio-economic labels while redirecting to the individual's experiences.

Ways to consider student experiential relevance:

1. Use current events to parallel historical events.

2. Develop a science experiment/experience using common household items to encourage understanding of how students interact with science every day.

3. Diversify readings to allow for both classic and more modern representation.

4. Create a math experience that allows students to solve real-life problems or that connects to interests like music, sports, careers, etc.

5. Use real-world virtual or in-person simulations to promote learning and content connection.

Output: Evidence of Student Comprehension
4. Mastery Over Compliance
Before you get nervous about this strategy, don't stress. This does not remove responsibility from the student to complete work but provides multiple opportunities for students to be successful within the same time frame. Notice I said "over" not "instead of" compliance. Otherwise, we would be lowering expectations, which we already know wouldn't benefit the student. The goal of educators and students should be student mastery of content more than making sure the assignment is turned in by 11:59 pm on Tuesday and the test isn't until the following week.

How to build in opportunities for mastery:

1. Provide multiple attempts on formative assignments, and take the average or higher grade for the students to demonstrate growth.

2. Provide meaningful feedback and allow students to make corrections or redo the assignments.

3. Provide rubrics to guide the students on how to effectively complete a project or assignment.

4. Allow for peer collaboration for shared responsibility of learning

5. Student Perspective in Learning
This will require you, as an educator, to examine your own bias. Not just your personal bias, but also your content area bias. Allowing students to demonstrate their learning from their own perspective provides them the opportunity to share from their unique lens, so you must be open to receiving different viewpoints on the same topic. Not only do students get to have ownership of who they are but they can learn more about each other. As a teacher, you also have the unique experience of getting a glimpse of the emotions, outlooks, and interpretations of your students.

Ways to incorporate student perspective:

1. Students write an essay as if they were a character in the text based on their experiences.

2. Provide multiple avenues of expression to demonstrate learning: drawing, songs, movement, writing, etc.

3. The student applies topics to their potential career field.

4. Create structured group or paired discussions to allow for personal perspectives.

I hope you're feeling inspired to apply these strategies to your lesson planning practices. To make it easier to apply these, I want to share this equity check for lesson planning template. It will guide you through each strategy as you're planning, so you can create an equitable lesson plan without even knowing who is on your class roster.

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Five Strategies for Equitable Lesson Plans

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We strive for equity in the classroom, but how exactly do we plan equitable lessons? Check out five strategies and a lesson planning template!

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This youtube video discusses ways to plan lessons in order to accommodate students that may be early finishers or those who take longer on assignments. There is also discussion about how to prepare materials for students on both ends of the range from most proficient to least proficient.

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Differentiating Instruction: How to Plan Your Lessons

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This webpage provides the methodology of guided inquiry in science. The resource provides a concept map of how student-centered guided inquiry should take place in the classroom along with information about the teaching methods, steps, etc. This is a good tool to use in the science classroom.

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Guided Inquiry Process | Teaching Great Lakes Science

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The guided inquiry process puts the emphasis on scientist in “student-scientist.” The primary objective of guided inquiry is to promote learning through student investigation. This material is designed to assist teachers in targeting higher-level thinking and science process skills for their student…

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This resource is a professional development resource providing educators with opportunities to learn about modeling instruction in STEM classrooms. This is a resource that can be used to help educators learn how to implement student-centered lessons.

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American Modeling Teachers Association - Transforming STEM Education

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The American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) is a professional organization of teachers, by teachers, and for teachers who use Modeling Instruction(TM) in their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teaching.

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This article discusses barriers that individuals may face in the classroom and how UDL can be implemented to reduce and break down these barriers. I find this article very interesting because it emphasizes the importance of doing your best, although you cannot be perfect, when trying to give students opportunities to prevent gaps in their education.

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When you plan a road trip, you know you might run into detours or roadblocks that get in the way of reaching your destination. Some of those barriers are predictable, like traffic, road work, or bad weather. Knowing and anticipating those barriers can help you plan your trip so you can still get to your destination.

Classroom lessons are no different. There will be barriers that prevent students from reaching the intended learning goals. Just like with a road trip, some of those barriers are predictable and can be reduced by careful planning and design. Identifying barriers in curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials will help students gain the skills they need to become expert learners.

What are barriers to learning?

Barriers to learning are where students "get stuck" in a lesson or activity. For each student, barriers can differ from subject to subject and from activity to activity. A core tenet of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is to anticipate and address those barriers up front. You can do that by designing flexible lessons and learning environments rather than trying to "fix" or change a student.

Here are some examples of barriers:

Not having enough background knowledge or the required skills for a lesson

Not knowing the next steps or not receiving feedback about their progress, which can be difficult for many students, especially those who struggle with executive function

Not knowing key vocabulary terms, which can be challenging for many students, including English language learners

Facing social-emotional challenges or feeling that a lesson isn't culturally relevant or academically interesting

How can I identify and reduce barriers?

The first step is to clarify the goal (or the "destination") of your lesson. If lessons are overpacked with goals, it can be overwhelming to identify all of the barriers.

So for each part of a lesson, identify the primary goal: What do you really want students to know, do, or care about for that part of the lesson? Then, reflect on the different pathways or options students have to achieve that goal. That flexibility helps reduce barriers and increases meaningful learning opportunities. Ask yourself the following questions:

In addition to these questions, there are three more ways you can identify and reduce barriers in your lessons: reflect on where you need to re-teach; ask students to give you feedback; and proactively identify barriers.

1. Reflect on reteaching.

After a lesson, ask yourself, "When did I need to repeat directions?" "When did I have to show students how to do something I already taught?" or "When was a student not able to be fully included in the lesson?" The answers will help you identify the barrier in your lesson. With the barrier in mind, you can then make plans to reduce that barrier by adding an additional support or scaffold into the learning environment.

For example, imagine that after you model how to solve a word problem, some students struggle to remember the process for solving this kind of problem. The barrier is that the lesson requires students to process and work with a lot of information at once. To reduce the barrier, you could create a short video highlighting the key steps of the process. Or you could provide a graphic organizer outlining the steps.

Adding those resources to your lesson and making them available for all students to reference as needed reduces the barrier. Those resources will also help all students develop expert learning skills and make progress. That, in turn, empowers students to better understand what they need to be more independent in their learning.

Whether they know it or not, students are very good at giving feedback about barriers. Think about when students ask, " Do I have to...?" That question often signals that the student is facing a barrier to learning. For example, a student who asks, " Do I have to work with a partner?" is expressing concern that working with a partner is going to get in the way of learning.

Before responding to the question, you can think through whether partner collaboration is an important part of the lesson goal. If it is an important part of the lesson, you might reduce the barrier by suggesting a few sentence starters to foster collaboration between partners. If partner work is not critical to the lesson goal, you could make working with a partner optional.

You can also use exit tickets to gather student feedback. Ask students where they were frustrated or disengaged during a lesson. Read more from Reading Rockets about how to use and create exit tickets.

Using tools like exit tickets can help you build routines to better understand the experiences your students are having in the classroom. At the same time, these routines can also build students' self-awareness and self-advocacy skills so they can recognize and address their own barriers.

You can also proactively identify barriers using CAST's UDL Guidelines. It's a powerful tool to help you think about potential barriers to learning before delivering a lesson. With UDL, barriers can be identified in terms of:

Will reducing barriers make learning too "easy"?

It's natural to worry that offering strategies or scaffolds could lead students to take the "easy" route. And sometimes, you may want students to grapple with a concept or encounter a productive struggle. Productive struggle is about students experiencing desirable difficulty, like struggling with how to apply a particular problem-solving strategy. (It's not about being stuck while trying to read the text that explains the strategy.)

So how do you balance these concerns with reducing barriers? Here are some considerations:

Without scaffolds, students may not gain the foundational skills and tools necessary to develop expert learning. Keep in mind that most scaffolds aren't meant to be permanent, but are phased out as students build expertise. If students continue to use a scaffold longer than needed, it's a good chance to encourage them to take a risk and not use the scaffold anymore.

No lesson will ever be completely barrier-free. Each year and in each lesson, there will be different barriers for different students.

But identifying and reducing those barriers is important. Without flexible tools and resources for all students, gaps in learning outcomes will persist. This is especially true of students who come to lessons without the expected requisite background or skills.

When you reduce barriers and set challenging, meaningful learning goals, you will develop more equitable teaching practices for all students. You will have designed learning to anticipate and value student variability in your class.

To get started with finding and breaking down barriers, print or download a one-page chart that includes the three UDL principles adapted from CAST. The chart includes some questions to consider and examples of the principles in action. Keep the chart on hand when you set out to reduce barriers to learning in your next lesson or activity.

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How to break down barriers to learning with UDL

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See how to use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to anticipate and address barriers to learning. Use UDL barrier analysis to help design flexible curricula.

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Teaching Methods to Provide Equity in the Secondary Science Classroom

https://sciencelessonsthatrock.com/digital-choice-boards-for-science-html/

https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-choice-boards-math-science/

https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/articles/methods-for-teaching-science/

https://www.michiganseagrant.org/lessons/teacher-tools/guided-inquiry-process/

https://www.modelinginstruction.org/

Differentiated Instruction for Secondary Teachers

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/what-differentiated-instruction-really-means

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/why-we-need-differentiation-now-more-than-ever

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/what-differentiated-instruction-really-means

https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/differentiated-instruction-strategies-examples-download/

UDL for Secondary Teachers

https://youtu.be/8BVvImZcnkw

https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-strategies-promoting-student-autonomy/

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/how-to-break-down-barriers-to-learning-with-udl

https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/assistive-technology/articles/5-examples-universal-design-learning-classroom

Lesson Planning Tools for Secondary Teachers

https://web.diffit.me/

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/how-to-break-down-barriers-to-learning-with-udl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rumHfC1XQtc

https://www.theudlproject.com/udl-tools---all-grades.html

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This website has many different templates, links, and planning tools to use to create a lesson plan using UDL. This website has guidelines and lesson ideas for all grades and subject areas.

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The UDL Implementation Rubric was authored by Melissa Toland, and you can read more about it here. This is an adapted version of The UDL Progression Rubric by Dr. Katie Novak and Dr. Kristian Rodriguez. In the original version, teachers can self-evaluate their performance on each individual checkpoint of the UDL guidelines, whereas the adapted version is less specific in scope and focuses on performance in more general terms in the following areas: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. You can view this rubric to see where you may be in your UDL journey across a spectrum ranging from UDL explorer to UDL idol. Click the link below to download the pdf version of this document.

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CAST UDL Guidelines The two files below outline the UDL guidelines by multiple means of representation, multiple means of action & expression, and multiple means of engagement. Knowing the UDL...

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This article was intriguing to me because it gave 5 examples in a clear and concise format of how to implement UDL in the classroom to meet the needs of every student.

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Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

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5 Examples of Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to teaching aimed at meeting the needs of every student in a classroom. It can be helpful for all kids, including kids with learning and attention issues. But UDL takes careful planning by teachers. Here are just a few examples of how UDL can work in a classroom.

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Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever!

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Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever!

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I have included this article because it touches on the importance of differentiation when all learners were struggling, during the COVID pandemic time. This is still very applicable to not only face-to-face classrooms but also virtual classrooms. This article displays a different perspective on differentiation.

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These are trying times for all of us. Pervasive school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have left many teachers and administrators feeling fearful, anxious, and acutely missing their students and staff. As a professional development facilitator, I severely miss face-to-face time with my students: teachers and instructional coaches. Not to mention that it is very hard to juggle homeschooling my own children and designing professional learning for those I serve.

The strain of tending to intensified personal needs and serving our school communities makes differentiating instruction likely the last thing on anyone's mind. However, it may be the single most important instructional move right now.

You're likely working as hard as you can to teach in this unfamiliar, virtual environment and feel that you "can't possibly add one more thing." For many educators, differentiation can seem like "one more thing," when actually it just means focusing on our students' needs.

Learning and Belonging

High-quality differentiation focuses on learning rather than doing. COVID-19 forced educators to quickly assemble distance learning opportunities for students. Initially, the default was to give students something to do. For example, a week after schools closed, The Today Show shared a list of tools educators and parents can use under the umbrella of "websites to occupy kids". But in order to ensure the social-emotional and academic growth of our students, we must do much more than keep them busy. Now, more than ever, learning must be anchored in a sense of belonging.

A sense of belonging is a "fundamental human motive," says clinical psychologist Paul Rasmussen in The Quest to Feel Good (2010, p. 43). On a typical school day, students learn alongside peers, work with partners, and collaborate in small groups as they progress toward mastery of learning goals in multiple content areas. However, in a pandemic-altered learning landscape, academic objectives can feel cold and sterile, and inadvertently cause disconnection. At this time, every student at every level has a similar learning objective to belong to this learning community. How will we know if students feel connected or not? In short, we ask them.

Assess for Connection

My colleague and mentor Carol Ann Tomlinson calls formative assessment "the lifeblood of differentiation." Formative assessment is frequently thought of as a quiz or test. However, anything that gives teachers insight into where their students are emotionally and academically and enables teachers to plan instruction is formative assessment. Our go-to measure during remote learning is the question, "How do you feel?"

This simple question will elicit lots of one-word responses from students-good, bad, bored, fine-which give teachers an opportunity to probe further: Tell me why you feel good. What is different about learning from home that you like? What is something about school that you miss? The key here is not to try to fix anything but to ask follow-up questions that empathize with students and ensure they feel heard. This process promotes dialogue between students and teachers, forges connection, and gives teachers guidance on how to plan academic instruction.

Tip: Give students the option of responding with emojis, hand signals, or drawings instead of words. This is an especially good option for younger students and students who have difficulty expressing their emotions.

An Academic Map

After gaining insight into how our students are feeling, we can determine which academic objectives (derived from grade-level standards), activities, and groupings are most appropriate for students. For example, if two students share that they are "lonely" or "bored," you may plan ways for those students to have additional interactive time-pairing them to work on a text together or to collaborate on an activity.

Insights students provide during community-building activities will help teachers set learning goals that are compelling to students (e.g., "My goal is to is to bake banana bread. I need to double the ingredients to feed my whole family. Therefore, I will learn how to add or multiply fractions.")

Additionally, not every student will have access to a parent or caregiver to support at-home learning, and parents are not teachers. Parents have massively different capacities to facilitate remote learning due to their own education level, native language, number of children at home, whether or not they are also trying to work remotely, and level of stress due to the other effects of COVID-19 (economic, caretaking of elderly family members, etc.).

Finally, we do not know how long schools will be closed. We must plan remote learning for students that is sustainable and engaging or we will lose our students and their parents.

With this in mind, there are some ways educators can use differentiation to guide learning opportunities that are equitable and accessible for students and their caregivers.

DIFFERENTIATION FOR REMOTE LEARNING

Learning Environment: The culture and climate of student/teacher interactions

Do: Provide interpersonal communication opportunities. Do: Personally connect with each student twice a week or more. Don't: Worry about making things "equal." The length or frequency of interactions matters less than the quality.

Remote conferring: Connect with the whole class, small groups, or individual students via phone, app, or online platform. Letter writing: Students also practice addressing an envelope properly.

Content: What students learn

Do: Promote student engagement by ensuring students understand concepts' and skills' relevance. Do: Focus on exposing students to concepts and skills and practicing them in ways that allow for your feedback. Don't: Worry about students having a deep understanding of all content.

Choice: Students choose from texts, concepts, ideas, or skills within a content area. Targeted questioning: The teacher chooses the content or text but differentiates the focus for students (e.g., some find text evidence to identify the setting while others find text evidence to determine the theme). Flexible pacing: Allow students to spend longer or shorter time with content depending on their interest.

Process: How students acquire learning

Do: Ensure access to reliable resources to practice skills and concepts. Do: Focus on skills that apply to all content areas (i.e. cause and effect, claim and evidence). Don't: Give students long packets of work. We run the risk of having students practice skills incorrectly or quickly becoming disengaged.

Video conferring Live-streamed lessons Video recordings of lessons: These can be teacher-created or -curated. Shared/interactive documents Simulations/experiments: For example, instead of completing a worksheet, students could find the area and perimeter of something in their own homes. Short, targeted practice Skill-based graphic organizers

Product: How students demonstrate learning

Do: Encourage students to share authentic examples of learning. Do: Ask students questions about their learning and provide opportunities for them to share with classmates. Don't: Worry about grading. Students must be successful if we want them to continue learning from home.

Student choice and interest Virtual collaboration: Students work with one another. Feedback: Differentiate delivery and depth. Task-related feedback helps students understand the concept or skill (right/wrong, yes/no, stop/go). Process-related feedback identifies progress and errors, relationships between ideas, and next steps. ("What strategies did you use?" "What is/isn't working and why?") Self-evaluation supports students who can self-direct learning by providing prompts that deepen reflection. ("How does this compare to ... ?" "How have your ideas changed?").

Remote Instructional Tools

Some of the tools and resources that can support you as you differentiate to meet students' needs remotely include

Video-conferring or live-stream apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and FaceTime.

Sharing platforms such as Otus, Google Classroom, SeeSaw, and Flipgrid.

Digital resources familiar to students (e.g., Kahn Academy, NewsELA) and anything accessible to students (books, articles, newsfeeds, their backyards, TV shows, their imagination, family members, etc.). Remember, too many choices result in indecision. Three or four digital resources is more than enough.

Aim for Growth, Not Perfection

People always ask me, "Am I doing differentiation right?" My response is always the same: There is only one way you can mess differentiation up, and that is knowing that your students need something but not trying anything to meet their needs.

We don't always succeed in our attempts to meet students' needs. In a remote learning environment, there are likely to be even more failed attempts. The goal is not perfection. The goal is to reflect on what is working and what isn't (for teachers and students), adjust, and keep going. As we do so, have compassion for your students and yourself. Everyone is doing the best that they can.

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Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever - ASCD

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These are trying times for all of us. Pervasive school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have left many teachers and administrators feeling fearful, anxious, and acutely missing their students and staff. As a professional development facilitator, I severely miss face-to-face time with my student

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What Differentiated Instruction Really Means

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What Differentiated Instruction Really Means

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I have included this article as it is a follow-up article created by the author of "Why We Need Differentiation Now More than Ever". I decided to include this because it provides reasons why it is still of the utmost importance in a classroom even after COVID has ended. It also presents strategies and where to start when identifying what the teachers and students really need in the classroom.

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When I wrote my article "Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever" for an ASCD newsletter in May of last year (Westman, 2020), remote learning was new. It was just weeks after the initial school closures due to COVID-19, and everyone's emotions were raw. As our school systems (and many of us) were in survival mode, remote learning had become our lifeline, but certainly not our lifestyle. At the time, one question I kept getting asked was, "How do I differentiate for students virtually?" My advice at that time was for teachers in all grade levels and content areas to make their essential question to students, "How do you feel?" and use their responses as a form of formative assessment for figuring out what they needed most.

Now, with a year under our belts of some combination of remote, hybrid, or in-person learning with social distancing restrictions-and (hopefully) a bit of time this summer to relax and restore-we are ready to take on the 2021-2022 school year. This time the question on everyone's mind is, "What will our students need?" And, once again, the idea of differentiation is taking center stage.

Many are looking to differentiating instruction as a means to undo "learning loss." In fact, a Google search of the terms "learning loss and differentiation" returns over 55 million results. Schools are grateful for additional funds to address learning loss, quickly amp up professional learning, focus on assessing where students are, and firm up differentiation practices and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). But differentiating is not a new approach or program-in fact, MTSS and differentiation are hot topics almost every school year, whether we're in a pandemic or not. Veteran educators have likely heard about this approach many times in their careers, though they might still be confused as to how to do it, and novice teachers have likely read about it in their studies but not had any practical experience implementing the approach successfully.

As a consultant who works with school systems internationally on differentiation, I frequently hear comments like, "Oh, we tried differentiation a few years ago. It didn't work." Or "I used to differentiate for my students, but I just don't have time for that now."

Sadly, this is the case for many educators. And even more disheartening is that fact that we often throw in the towel because we hold a flawed view of what differentiation is and what it is not. We assume that differentiation must have this or must have that, when really differentiation only needs to include one thing: a clear focus on students' academic and social-emotional needs. When we are responsive to our students' needs, any action we take to meet those needs is differentiation.

The tricky piece here is adequately answering the question, "What do our students really need?" Surely, each student will need different things. And teachers need effective and sustainable strategies to meet these needs. So, where do we start?

1. Focus on growth instead of loss

Educators have been anticipating "learning loss" for the past 18 months. But focusing on "loss" assumes something was "had" in the first place. If students "lost" their learning, did they ever really have it? Instead of focusing on "loss," let's focus on determining whether or not students have met learning targets. The way we do this is through instructional clarity: having clear goalposts of what learning looks like and centering your planning process around success criteria and formative assessment. Ensure that for every lesson and unit of study:

The focus standard is clearly identified.

Learning intentions are clearly defined (these are the discrete skills and/or concepts derived from the standard).

The success criteria are clearly identified (these are the indicators that the student has mastered the learning intention. Collectively they indicate proficiency in the learning intention).

For the success criterion, there are formative assessments. Evidence from these formative assessments is then regularly used to inform instruction. And with that data we. . . .

2. Offer empathy, not interventions

In the June 2021 issue of Psychology Today, the table of contents includes a teaser for the feature article in the "Treatment" section of the magazine. It says, "[pg.] 34-Addiction: Interventions Don't Work. This might." When you turn to page 34, you find an article by Peg O'Connor (2021) titled "Empathy over Ambush."

While this article is about interventions for people struggling with an addiction and not struggling learners, the same premise holds for our schools.

The antithesis of empathizing with students is shaming them (inadvertently or not). When students feel shame, it renders them incapable of learning and may likely lead to other adverse behaviors. When we pull students from their classes (whether for remediation or extension), we run the high risk of inducing shame in them.

Instead, we can structure our lessons to provide additional instruction and practice to students at their readiness level while simultaneously exposing them to grade-level content and skills if we. . . .

3. Plan instruction that is equitable, not equal

While in college, I worked at a day camp. At the time, I had never heard of the term "differentiation," but what I learned from how the camp ran their swimming program taught me so much about two differentiation mainstays: flexible grouping and student choice and voice. The camp had nine "swim levels," each with very clear criteria. Once a student could meet the criteria, they switched groups to the next level.

However, in the first 15 minutes of swim time, all students were introduced to the day's skill, for example, treading water. Even the students who had not yet demonstrated proficiency to go into the deep end were still exposed to the new skill and then given scaffolds (water wings or floaties) or the option to work on a deep-end skill in the shallow water for this "whole group" part of the lesson. Then, during small-group instruction time, the swimmers were given additional direct instruction and practice of the prerequisite skills they needed.

Pulling a small group to reteach prerequisite skills is an example of a "tier-two" intervention during tier-one instruction time. It allows all students to be exposed to "where they are going" and hone the skills they need to get there with targeted instruction.

This model works in the classroom, too. Pulling a small group to work on phonics skills necessary to decode text while other groups dive into comprehension questions for a text would be one example. How can students comprehend text if they can't decode? During the whole-group portion of this lesson, the "floaties" might be listening to an audio recording of the text or reading a smaller passage of text to demonstrate a specific comprehension skill.

This leads me to another common misconception about differentiation. Often times, educators believe that you cannot have whole-group direct instruction as part of differentiation. You surely can-the differentiation can and should be embedded in this context. In addition, educators often believe they need to see all small groups of students every day for the same number of minutes. This is equality. Equity is when you see students in small groups based on needs (academic and social-emotional), so that students with the greatest needs are seen more frequently and/or for a greater number of minutes than students who have less needs. All students receive the amount of small-group instruction appropriate for them, with zero minutes being suitable for no one.

4. Assume positive intent

As educators, we are obliged to be responsive to the children and young adults in front of us. We have a choice to respond to students in punitive and judgmental ways or in compassionate ways that give them the benefit of the doubt.

Take cheating, for instance. Cheating was a hot topic of conversation during remote learning since teachers had less oversight and control over how students were completing work. Even strategies that allowed teachers greater oversight were doubted in the face of the freedom students had during remote learning.

For example, a teacher I worked with last year used Google Slides in a super creative way to mimic, in a virtual way, walking around the classroom and looking at your students' work (you can see every student in real time when you view Slides in "grid" view). I loved this teacher's idea so much that I shared it with another team of teachers. This team, however, was concerned that since the students could see each other's answers, they would "cheat."

I said, "Well, the great thing about this format is you can see if any of your students are looking at slides other than their own. If you see a student on another student's slide, what would you do?"

One teacher said, "I would give them a zero."

I countered: "What if you assume positive intent?" I went on to ask that teacher to assume the student isn't looking at another student's work to "cheat," but instead because he or she is confused. Instead of failing the student, make a note of students who look at other students' slides and use that as one piece of formative assessment evidence that those students may require additional instruction. Then pull those students as a small group and check their understanding. This mindset is critical to differentiated instruction and will be particularly helpful as students return to schools this year.

The same premise applies to our personal professional practice. There will be some strategies that we try that will work. There will be others that are lackluster. This is simply formative assessment evidence for us to reflect on and hone our practices. If you find yourself saying things like, "I tried it, it didn't work," think about extending empathy and assuming positive intent for yourself as well as your students. In the words of meditation teacher and author Jack Kornfield, "If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete" (Kornfield, 2018, p. 28.) When it comes to differentiation (and all instruction), please be compassionate to yourself, your students, and each other. Remember that both you and your students can always take something you learned today and refine it tomorrow-it's a marathon, not a sprint.

As we adjust to teaching and learning in this post-pandemic world, a genuine understanding of what differentiation is (anything we do to meet the needs of our students so they continue to learn and grow academically and socially) will certainly redirect our focus from fear of the loss to celebration of the gains.

Reflect & Discuss

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What Differentiated Instruction Really Means - ASCD

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When I wrote my article "Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever" for an ASCD newsletter in May of last year (Westman, 2020), remote learning was new. It was just weeks after the initial school closures due to COVID-19, and everyone's emotions were raw.

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples

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This website provides strategies and examples that can be downloadable to be used in your own classroom. This is a large list that can be altered and adjusted accordingly but is a good starting point when trying to introduce differentiated instruction.

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples [+ Downloadable List]

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As students with diverse learning styles fill the classroom, many teachers don't always have the time, or spend additional hours to plan lessons that use differentiated instruction (DI) to suit students' unique aptitudes.